Mumbai: One of the talking points ahead of Sunday’s India versus Pakistan game is Pakistan spinner Usman Tariq’s quirky bowling action. In four T20Is he has 11 wickets at an ER 5.93. As troubling as his skills are for the batters, it is with his unorthodox bowling style that he is getting into their heads.
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, in Australia’s game against Pakistan at Lahore when Cameron Green got out to Tariq he went cribbing all the way to the pavilion, muttering to himself and gesturing how can the bowler be allowed to pause and bowl.
Tariq has worked out a bowling style for himself where the batter when facing is not just dealing with what comes off the surface but what he does before the release as well.
Coming from a diagonal run-up, he takes a dramatic pause at the crease to break a batter’s rhythm even before the ball is released. He will keep the batter guessing with his trajectory, delivering from various release points, from over arm to round arm. And once he delivers, it is not easy to line him up, he has a bagful of variations from turn to skiddy arm deliveries with subtle drift at a brisk pace.
After missing Pakistan’s tournament opener against the Netherlands, Tariq went on to pick up three wickets against the USA. And, on a Colombo surface that could grip and make stroke-making difficult, Tariq’s stop-start style could be discomforting to deal with for the batters on Sunday.
It has triggered an interesting debate in the sport — is his bowling action within the rules? Anil Chaudhary who has officiated in 125 international matches says as per the rule book, Tariq’s action is legal.
“As per the current rules, people are looking at whether his arm is bending or not (beyond permissible limit), ICC has cleared him twice so that issue is over; the second is whether he cutting the return crease (running in diagonally), but his delivery stride is inside the crease so as per the law that is also a fair delivery; the third point is as he delivers from the side which creates a doubt whether it is a no ball (below shoulder height), but his release is above shoulder height which is also legal,” said Chaudhary.
Generally it is the batters who react to a bowler’s move, but Tariq’s pause before the delivery means he is the one who is in a position to react to a batter’s move.
Chaudhary further added: “The main debate is over his pause which is unconventional. But on all his deliveries he takes the same pause, which makes it a routine action. As per existing laws there is no mention about how much you can pause.”
The 29-year old has not played enough international cricket to allow exact assessment of his qualities. His real test will be against the India batters who have good skills against spin bowling. How much of a threat his deliveries pose after pitching remains to be seen but what he does before the delivery stride is certainly causing a distraction and catching everyone’s attention.
A bowler can also come under the scanner under the law of deception. But for any bowler to come under the scanner, first of all a batter has to complain. In Tariq’s case now, the batter has pulled out for his pause before delivery.
“His action on all his deliveries is almost the same so it doesn’t fall in the deception category. He will come under the deception category if he bowls without a pause or if he takes a longer pause because then there will be a major change in two actions,” says Chaudhary.
“For that also the batter has to pull out and complain that there’s deception and he is unable to understand when he will bowl, then only the umpire will think over it. The batters have kept on playing him, if they have continued to play then how will the umpire intervene?”
There’s no doubt about the fact that Tariq’s unconventional action allows him more time to see the batter’s move, adjust and then deliver.
So what is the way to tackle him?
Nandan Phadnis, who has seen the game from all aspects, as a BCCI Panel Umpire as well as a first-class cricketer of Maharashtra and coach, says: “Normally a bowler bowls and the batter reacts, the bowler starts the process, here what he is doing is, he is making the batter start the process and he is responding to what the batter is doing which is turning completely on its head, that is the challenge for the batter.”
“The batter who can hold his position and wait and then respond to him will be successful against him. A batter who is already in his stroke or not able to readjust will find it difficult, he may go for the slog and get out,” said Phadnis, who was Nepal’s consulting coach at the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Tariq certainly has got some batters psyched. “The batters will have to get out of the victim mentality because he is not, you can sulk and crib, ‘arre yeh aise kaise daal sakta hai (how can he bowl like this)’, but that is not the case. It is pointless for the batter to do that. That is why he is effective. Unless a batter works him out, he is going to struggle.”
